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I know this is hard to believe, but my 4-year-old son Vincent hates chocolate. I mean, he hates it. So while an exhibit on the history of chocolate might be tempting for most kids, it took more than a little convincing to get Vinny there. The rest of us thought it seemed like a great excuse to check out the Minnesota History Museum for the first time. Yeah, its kinda dumb that we hadn’t ever been there, but that’s what makes this blog fun – getting to see things we’ve never seen before.

First thing we notice is that the building itself is spectacular, and as we walk in we see tons of banners and signs welcoming us to the Chocolate: The Exhibit.

The exhibit itself is up on the 3rd floor. The display windows near the entrance provide a little “appetizer” – a spectacular array of modern, molded chocolate pieces.

The room is arranged, like most historical exhibits, in chronological order. Each area tells part of the story of Chocolate, it’s history, and how it is made. The story starts in the rainforest where Cacao beans grow and are harvested. Dominic was surprised to to see how big the beans are and what they look like inside.

The second area is all about the ancient origins of Chocolate, in particular how it was made and consumed by the ancient Maya. One of the displays explains the complex meanings behind the designs and decorations on the cups used to drink Chocolate in it’s original liquid form.

Continuing through the space, the next couple areas were all about the era when Chocolate came to Europe. A huge map shows the enormous extent of the Cacao trade in the early 1600s. Several displays show how Chocolate became an aristocratic drink at this time. Dominic couldn’t resist sitting next to a painting of dressed up nobles and acting snooty for a laugh.

The rest of the exhibit presents a more modern view of Chocolate, showing vintage molds, packaging, advertising, etc. Being kind of a design nerd, this was by far my favorite part, especially the wall of mid-century candy-bar wrappers.

Because it was opening weekend, the hallways were full of local Chocolate makers giving out samples. Even Vinny the chocolate-hater tried a couple pieces. But his real interest was in exploring, so we took the opportunity to check out some of the permanent exhibits at the History Center.

The kid’s favorite area was all about the weather in Minnesota. Great displays included a model of an old Winter Carnival ice castle, a spinning “tornado” made of fabric. I had to physically drag my 4 year old away from this room.

Our final stop was a climbing area modeled after a grain elevator, where the kids can follow the path of grain through the entire process of storage and distribution. This was really cool and fun, sort of similar to some of the things at the Children’s Museum.

All in all, the Chocolate exhibit was great, but even better was that it got us to the History Center for the first time. Both kids have been begging to go back ever since.